Why Your Fundraiser Should Accept Credit Cards

We’ve all heard the phrase “Cash is King!” It’s nice, it’s catchy and in many ways, it’s simpler to deal with cash. There are no fees, and it’s instantly available. But that is about it. Cash transactions don’t have many upsides.

But cash transactions have a lot of downsides. Cash is easily lost, easy to miscount, tempting for fraud, and limited to those who happen to have it in their wallet. Almost every story I’ve heard about fundraising fraud has to do with cash transactions. Fraudulent behavior aside, in today’s world people don’t tend to carry as much cash on them. When it comes time to give at a fundraiser if one is not set up to accept credit cards they are limiting themselves on how much can be given to the amount that is in a person’s wallet or purse.

Since my district began our use of Classmunity over two years ago we have tracked $266,200 in monies raised via our Classmunity site. Much of what we still take in are smaller cash donations and/or small transaction sales. To be frank, we are still handling much more cash than I would like to see, but we are slowly transitioning our organizations and community to credit card transactions by providing access to the online and credit card purchases.

During the transition to using Classmunity for all fundraisers, we began seeing significantly higher donations from many individuals. In fact, donations made through Classmunity have an average transaction size of $117. That blew me away when I first saw it. I am even more amazed that over a year later that average size has been consistent. Using Classmunity for each of our fundraisers gives the organizations an opportunity to accept credit cards and debit cards and thereby it opens the door to potential donors who want to give, but may be short on cash when the ask is made. I would strongly encourage all fundraisers to take advantage of this tool, if not for the safety and security of the transactions, then for the access you provide your donors. You may be surprised by the results!

If you’re interested in learning more, drop us a line at contact@classmunity.com!